1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to biofeedback systems which act to monitor an involuntary physiological function of an individual and indicate the individual's state of stress, making it possible for the individual to exercise control over the function being monitored, and more particularly to a cool-under-pressure biofeedback game in which an individual who sits on a "hot seat" and assumes the role of the target player is assailed by provocative questions put to him by an inquisitor player which are calculated to induce stress, the outcome of the game depending on the skill of the inquisitor player to frame provocative questions that lie within a selected subject matter category, as offset by the ability of the target player to resist provocation and to maintain his cool.
2. Status of the Art
An individual's ability to mentally control certain of his physiological functions such as body temperature or blood pressure is known as self-regulation. But with the exception of those committed to transcendental meditation, self-regulation techniques have not been widely practiced in Western society, possibly because many disorders induced or aggravated by stress which lend themselves to alleviation by self-regulation can more readily be treated by medication. Thus a muscle contraction or tension headache as well as migraine, a vascular headache that is more painful than a tension headache, can, to some degree, be relieved by aspirin and other drugs. Such medication does not do away with stress factors responsible for the headache but serves only to moderate the symptoms. Moreover, aspirin and other drugs, when taken frequently and in large doses, often have deleterious side effects.
In recent years, biofeedback techniques have been developed which represent a more effective form of self-regulation In biofeedback, an involuntary or unconscious physiologic process, such as the heart beat or the brain wave, is made perceptible to the senses, thereby making it possible for the individual to manipulate the process by conscious mental control.
Stress is expressed in many ways, and may be manifested by a headache or by high blood pressure. Of overriding importance in stress therapy is learning to relax and thereby reduce tension and its physiological consequences. With biofeedback, one is able to achieve mental and physical relaxation by being fed back information regarding an unconscious physiological process. This information is derived by means of a non-invasive sensor which measures peripheral skin temperature or skin resistance, heart rate, blood pressure, pulse rate, and some other process variables.
Thus a signal from an electromyograph is indicative of varying levels of muscular activity; the higher the signal amplitude, the greater the amount of muscular tension. A high level of muscular tension reflects a high degree of stress, giving rise to tension headaches, facial pain and tics, and other stress-related illnesses. By means of biofeedback, one can monitor a specific physiologic process and derive therefrom a visible or audible signal indicative of the process. In this way, the user can manipulate the process being monitored by learning to control the signal it yields. By biofeedback one can reduce muscle tension, slow down a rapid heart rate, regulate blood flow to alleviate circulatory problems and, in general, relax the nervous system.
The efficacy of biofeedback is well established. Thus in the article by Sidney Leber, M. D., "Biofeedback in Clinical Psychiatric Practice" appearing in Psychiatric Opinion of October 1979, the author states that patients previously dependent on medication for migraine and other stress-related conditions which are responsive to feedback "can reduce their medications to a line of last defense rather than continue to routinely ingest medications as a way of life."
In my prior Spector U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,656, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, there is disclosed a biofeedback therapy system that includes a sensor continuously to monitor a physiologic function of the individual in the course of a training run to produce a signal representing the individual's prevailing level of stress. The system includes a scale responsive to said signal to visually indicate the level of stress, making it possible for the individual mentally regulate the function being monitored.
The individual being monitored during the course of the training run is subjected to a series of startling and disquieting stress-inducing sound stimuli which differ from each other and appear at random intervals, and are therefore unexpected, to induce internal stress in the individual in the course of the run.
These stress-inducing sounds are produced by a tape recording on which are recorded at intermittent times startling sounds, such as that of a police siren or a loud pistol shot. The listener, who is coupled to the feedback system and hears and reacts to these sounds, seeks to exercise control of his reaction.
In a cool-under-pressure biofeedback game in accordance with the invention, an individual sitting on a "hot seat" is placed within a biofeedback loop so that he sees indicated on a visual display the physiological function being monitored over which he seeks to exercise control when he is subjected to stress-inducing sounds. However, these sounds are not, as in my prior patent, pre-recorded sounds of a police siren, a human scream or a loud pistol shot, but take the form of improvised questions or statements put to him by an opposing player.
The questions are so framed as to be highly provocative, and they evoke in the individual on the hot seat a stress-inducing reaction causing him to lose his cool. This reaction to questions which are personal in nature is usually more pronounced than one induced by impersonal sounds. Thus almost all people, regardless of personal differences, react to the sounds of a fire alarm or that of a ringing telephone. However, the reaction of an individual to a question that touches on him personally depends, of course, on the nature of the question, and in some instances, a question which strikes on a sensitive nerve may evoke a very strong reaction. For example, when a person under oath is on a witness stand and is asked under cross-examination whether in his previous testimony his lied about his whereabouts on a certain day, his reaction could then be very strong had he in fact lied, but mild had he not.
Also of prior interest are the patents to Sidwell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,604, to Generales, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,166,452, to Forgione et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,125, and to Winberg et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,906.